Never in Luke Broderick‘s “wildest dreams” did he think he would end up on a reality television show. But when he met Vanderpump Rules icon Kristen Doute at a mutual friend’s wedding in Colorado a few years ago, everything changed for him. Now, Broderick — who is engaged to and expecting a baby girl with Doute — is looking to “make the most” of his stardom on Bravo’s The Valley, even if he doesn’t get along with all of his co-stars.
The Indiana native got off to a rough start with Doute’s longtime pal Jax Taylor, who expressed his reservations about their relationship in The Valley’s debut season last year. According to Broderick, there’s “a total lack of trust” between the two of them that keeps them from getting to know each other.
“I know I can’t trust him. I think everyone should agree with that,” Broderick said when he stopped by DECIDER’s studio this week. “And he doesn’t feel he can trust me because Kristen. If he tells me something and it gets to Kristen, it’s going to get spread around.”
In this week’s episode of The Valley, the often laid-back and grounded Broderick found himself in a bit of drama when Danny Booko told him that Jesse Lally accused his ex-wife Michelle Lally of sleeping with a billionaire for money in an all-boys group chat, which we later learned was his attempt at catching a mole. Broderick then told Brittany Cartwright, who told Michelle, who broke down in the middle of Dave & Buster’s and declared that Jesse was far worse of an ex-husband to have than Taylor.
“I think it would suck to be married to Jesse, but not as much as it would suck to be married to Jax,” Broderick countered. “Jax is just more chaotic, I feel like. They both drink, they both party, they’re both very full of themselves. But, I don’t know, from what I’ve seen between Jax and Brittany over the years, I think Jax is just more diabolical.”
When DECIDER spoke to Broderick, he also opened up about his proposal to Doute and where they would like to settle down with their daughter in a few years (hint: it’s not in Los Angeles). Check out the full interview below.
DECIDER: Congratulations, you’re going to be a dad! How have you been handling the final stretch of Kristen’s pregnancy? Are you going out for late-night cravings? Have you been leaning on Danny?
LUKE BRODERICK: I’m just trying to make Kristen comfortable. She’s in pain way too much and just uncomfortable so I’m doing what I can there. Other times, I’m trying to make things more organized so that when the baby does come, life’s just easier for us. And Danny has his hands full so much, I can’t really lean on him right now. But yeah, looking forward to it. We’ll have a little one the same age and they have a lot more experience than we do.
I saw you guys had your baby shower! You had a lot of friends from The Valley and Vanderpump Rules there. Which Bravoleb gave the best baby gift?
Oh, man. I’m the wrong person to ask about the gifts. As with these types of things, you have to write down who they came from and open the gifts. When I left to come here, we hadn’t opened the gifts yet. So, the kitchen table is covered in gifts and there’s a notepad sitting there, but we haven’t started yet.
You’ve been very open about not raising kids in LA – and you and Kristen even purchased land in Indiana. Do you see yourselves moving there in the near future? What does that mean for your futures on The Valley?
No, we are not moving in the near future. It’ll probably be three or four years before we go anywhere. She does not want to move to Indiana or Michigan where our families are so hopefully we land around Nashville [or] something like that. I’d be fine with some coastal cities, but that seems to be the place she’s the least opposed to at the moment.
There’s good music in Nashville!
It’s great, great music. There’s always something to do. Plus, there’s more nature and space in general … I want an acre or two so I can have my barn, she can have the house. I can put my boat in. There’s a bunch of lakes out there and it’d be great.
You are now in your sophomore season of reality TV. In your own personal experience, how did Season 2 compare or contrast to Season 1?
For me, Season 2 was fun. I had a lot of fun. Despite all the drama, I was just kind of dead set on making sure I had fun with this wild experience. You never know how long these times are going to last. So while I’m here, I might as well make the most of it.
Like we were saying before, this is never something you thought in a million years that you’d be doing, right?
Not in my wildest dreams, no.
In this week’s episode, you start to plan out your proposal to Kristen. How much are you looking forward to watching that play out on TV? And have there been any updates in your wedding planning?
There are no wedding planning updates. I need to get this baby out of her first and then get a handle on things. It’s up to her to initiate that since I got the ring and all. When she starts the planning, I’m here for it. But yeah, seeing this play out, I feel like I dropped a lot of hints that Kristen just didn’t pick up on. And I really hope that they captured it throughout the summer because there are times where I’m like, “You really had no idea this was coming?” But I know she didn’t. She was very genuinely, totally surprised.
Shifting gears a little bit. You were the bearer of news when you told the girls what Jesse had been saying about Michelle in the guys group chat. Do you still stand by that decision? Or would you have done things any differently?
It was coming out one way or another … It’s one of those things, Danny tells it to me on camera and I’ve got to say it. I just might as well speed things up. And as I said, it’s like, this game of telephone, things get changed. The little details change the real meaning. I want to say the exact words in the exact way that Danny told me so there’s no mistranslation down the road.
Did that affect your friendship with Danny at all? And did you ever find out why you weren’t included in this group chat?
In the boys chat? Oh, I don’t want to be in that chat. That and … I don’t know … Jax and I … I don’t think Jax likes me at all and I don’t care that much. But he’s trying. I think we just, we don’t mesh. Our personalities are so different and they just don’t work together. But yeah, I’ve never had an invite, I’ve never been interested in being in the boys’ chat. And Danny has since removed himself, I believe. It did not come between Danny and me, though.
You mentioned that you and Jax are trying to get to a better place. Have you been in touch with him since he opened up about his addiction?
Yeah, I’ve seen him a couple of times and it’s like I’ve seen him, but I don’t feel like I have gotten to know him much better. It’s kind of like trading favors with your friends’ ex-husband. We hang out. I don’t know how to put this into words, but it’s just like there’s something in between keeping us from getting to know each other better. It’s probably a total lack of trust. I know I can’t trust him. I think everyone should agree with that. And he doesn’t feel he can trust me because Kristen. If he tells me something and it gets to Kristen, it’s going to get spread around. So there’s this big trust wall between us.
Jesse says he told the group chat that Michelle was sleeping with a billionaire for money to sniff out a mole. Do you think the mole he and Jax were looking for is actually Danny?
No, I don’t. Because I don’t think Danny actually looks at it very much. I mean, he saw that one. I’ll say straight up, there have been nine or 10 people from the boys’ chat that have told me something that’s supposed to be secretive. There’s 20-something guys on there. I’m friends with probably half of them. And at some point or another, they’re like, “You won’t believe what they said in the boys’ chat.” And they’ll just tell me. So it could be any one of them. I don’t think it was Danny. That’s the first time he’s ever told me something from the boys’ chat.
Jesse said it was a joke. What do you think of him throwing Michelle under the bus? Do you think he could’ve just made something up about himself?
Obviously, he likes to get under Michelle’s skin. I mean why would he make something up about himself when he can make something about his ex-wife? I also think he just kind of rolls with the lie sometimes and his excuse was, “We’re sniffing out a mole.” And then it turns into, “Yeah, I just made that up.” I think it comes out tonight when he’s like, “Yeah, I totally made it up to create chaos.”
At one point, Michelle says Jesse is much worse than Jax. Do you agree?
No, I don’t. I think it would suck to be married to Jesse, but not as much as it would suck to be married to Jax, from the things I’ve seen. I don’t know. Jax is just more chaotic, I feel like. They both drink, they both party, they’re both very full of themselves. But I don’t know, from what I’ve seen between Jax and Brittany over the years, I think Jax is just more diabolical.
He definitely seems harder to reason with.
Right. Yeah, [he’s] harder to reason with and he’s always going to deflect and spin something to throw something at you instead of taking ownership. And I do think Jesse is taking steps to be better. Obviously, he’s far from perfect. But I think he is actually headed down a path of becoming a better man.
We also found out that Jesse’s girlfriend had allegedly been sleeping with a Baywatch actor. Was that something you also heard around town?
I only have so much space for the drama in this group. I mean, not around town, I hadn’t heard it, but I heard. This rumor went in one ear and out the other last summer. I’m like, OK, I haven’t met her yet. And Jesse was going back and forth, “We’re together, we’re not.” So it’s not something I put any real thought into.
On a lighter note, Kristen brought up the fact that you resemble Van Gogh in tonight’s episode. Can you see it? What do you think of the comparison?
I heard this for the first time last year. I mean, I’m looking right there at the camera. I guess I can see it. Van Gogh is a good looking guy.
At this point in time, who is the No. 1 guy in the group?
I hate this question. I don’t know. Jax self-proclaimed. Is there a number one guy? I don’t know. Number one in what? That’s the whole thing. It’s never been defined. Number one guy? Number one asshole? Number one shitster? Number one what?
How about No. 1 in life? I’d say you’re killing it right now.
Yeah, I don’t want to call myself, though. But I do feel like I’m more grounded and have a better handle on things in my life than most of the other guys. I mean, Danny’s great. He’s just going through it right now in this season.
Well, Jasmine brought up what went down with Danny in this week’s episode. What are your thoughts on that?
I love Danny. We all drink, make mistakes, and I 1,000% believe he’s very remorseful and wants to do anything he can to help Jasmine and Melissa move on from it. It’s not something that he’s proud of. He’s, I think, very well-spoken and lets everyone know that’s how he feels. He’s not proud of that moment.
It’s nice to see some kind of ownership taken — and so quickly!
It’s uncommon in this group.
Is there anything else you can tease about the rest of the season?
Jesse gave me a nickname in Hawaii. He called me Captain Moose Knuckles. So you can look forward to that, I guess.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Valley airs Tuesday nights at 9/8c on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=823934954307605&version=v2.8”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
